Chicken (Standing) Pie, 1854

The pie, prior to baking.

Last dish from the camera roll. To add some variety the table last candlelight, I finally made a standing meat pie in my pie molds. 

I based the filling on a chicken pie receipt in Mrs. Williamson's Practice of Cookery and Pastry (1854), layering pieces of chicken and boiled egg inside a crust, the whole flavored with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and gravy. I miscalculated (read: used it all up on the croquettes) and had to omit the slices of ham, while the gravy was a thickened vegetable stock, since I had no giblets to boil down. The instructions are a bit vague about de-boning the chicken, and the reference to using whole birds rather than joints they are small, I assume the bones are meant to be left in. I intentionally changed this, using chicken breasts and thighs, with all the bone, skin, etc., removed. I think this was the right decision, both for my own eating preferences, and to avoid unpleasant surprises for various other reenactors.

While the above receipt calls for puff paste, I used a hot-water crust to ensure that it had the structural integrity to handle the 'standing pie mold' situation. The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker (1864) gave a raised pie crust, which nicely filled my mold when scaled down to 2 lbs flour (the original assumes 7 lbs flour). I did end up having to use lard in place of the suet, which likely cost me some strength, though the pie held up. I used cookie-cutters and Quin's edging-mold to make the ornaments for the top.